# 2026-10-19 — zephyrus pipe note: sovereignty-lane finds (Timmy's benchmark list)

Two genuinely new finds from this week's open-weight sweep. **Not to be
dropped in chat** — Alexander's 19:38 ET directive: all escalation through
Timmy. These are for Timmy's bench, for whenever the local-wizard build
unblocks (still gated on his credential-flow call, Inbox item 31 — not
re-asked).

## Magnitude — open-source inference engine, YC S25
- Apache 2.0, launched ~2026-09-30. Instead of shipping precompiled kernels
  (llama.cpp style), it compiles and tunes them on the exact machine before
  the first token.
- Vendor numbers claim ~92% faster decode than llama.cpp on an M4 Pro Mac —
  **vendor benchmarks, say so plainly**; the HN thread has mixed practitioner
  reports plus real benchmark criticism. Treat as a claim, not a fact.
- Why it matters: a drop-in **engine upgrade**, not another model to evaluate.
  OpenAI-compatible API, one-click hookup to Hermes and others, fully offline
  after model downloads, macOS/Linux/Windows. The local-wizard build was
  specced on Ollama/MLX — **worth Timmy benchmarking Magnitude against the
  spec when the build unblocks.**
- Real caveats: two-person team, two months old, bug reports on record, no
  multi-GPU, small model catalog.

## Liquid LFM2.5-24B
- ~24B total, ~2B active per token, 131k context, with MLX and llama.cpp
  support. Company-reported 184 tok/s on an M5 Max; stronger tool-use
  results, acknowledged weaker coding and knowledge.
- Worth Timmy's benchmark list given Alexander's Mac hardware — **not blind
  adoption**: his workload is code-heavy, and this one admits coding is its
  weak leg.

## Context only (not a candidate)
- Meta's Muse Spark Open (816B total, 1M context) needs roughly two M5-Ultra
  Mac Studios — direction of travel for the open-weight race, nowhere near
  his hardware.

**Open questions for Alexander via Timmy (Telegram, his call):** none new —
item 31 (credential flow) stands unasked. Magnitude's only action item is a
benchmark comparison, which is Timmy's lane when the build resumes.